Electrical conductivity and potential gradient measurements in the free atmosphere over India

Measurements of Atmospheric Electricity Aloft

“…Approximately 43% of their measured E z profiles were of this type (category 3 profiles shown in Figure 3), and agree with the results of Koenigsfeld (1955), andHatekayama et al (1958), who also found sustained large values of E z in the lowest few km of the atmosphere, with sharp decreases at temperature inversions. The measurements of Srivastava (1972), from balloon ascents over India also found variations in electric field between different seasons. They note that high values of E z often occurred during summer in the boundary layer due to increased dust concentration and also dense haze near the ground.…”

“…The balloon measurements of Venkiteshwaran (1958) also found large fluctuations in electric field where cloud was present, and they generally increased and decreased sharply when the balloon entered and exited clouds, suggesting the presence of charge layers on the cloud boundaries. Balloon borne measurements of electric field have also been made inside cirrus cloud over India by Srivastava et al (1972). They noted sharp increases in electric field from 10 to 42 Vm -1 and 1 to 30Vm -1 as the sonde passed through two separate cloud layers.…”

Electric Field Variation in Clear and Convective Conditions at a Tropical Urban Location

“…Atmospheric conductivity near the Earth surface arises from the ions produced by cosmic ray and terrestrial radioactivity (Bennett & Harrison, 2008;Harrison & Carslaw, 2003;Israel, 1970). The magnitude of fair-weather conduction current density is independent of height under steady state conditions, and hence, it is varying air conductivity with height that determines the electric field vertical profile (Bennett & Harrison, 2008;Srivastava et al, 1972). By convention, the negative of the vertical component of the atmospheric electric field (E) is called potential gradient (PG), that is, PG = −E.…”